Nothing says ‘Independence Day’ like Will Smith…I mean fireworks. So in preparation for the fireworks we will see tonight in honor of our nation, I bring you my favorite firework photo, which I took in Costa Rica at Mariana’s February wedding (quite the occasion). But seriously, to get our 4th of July celebration started, Chris and I went to see ‘Hancock’ last night. Smith does a good job of portraying patriotism in a way that is realistic now. His character, symbolized by a bald eagle, starts the movie despised by the people he saves and protects (sound familiar?), but with a little image makeover, submitting himself to the laws that govern everyone else and showing more respect for other people in roles of protecting the city, he becomes an overnight star and all around hero…for doing the exact same thing. Then people love him for saving the day instead of cursing him.
So what would it take to change the world’s view of America? Or would it require too much responsibility for the world to be willing to see differently? On that note, I hat
e it when people are all excited about Starbucks having stores go out of business and refuse to support anything but local coffee houses. I, for one, had never been to a coffee house before Starbucks popularized them. I’d never even heard of something like that (Ok, I was in junior high, but still). So here they are, rich by right of creating and marketing a product/environment that people like and enjoy, and all these little local places are also just capitalizing off the fame and fortune Starbucks has thrown into the coffee industry, and instead of acknowledging that someone up at the stop of that spire in Seattle accomplished their American Dream, lots of people just rally against ‘the man’ and corporations and crap. Well, you know what?! I LIKE Starbucks; I like that in the past two years I’ve moved from Corpus Christi to Houston to Pensacola to Jacksonville and in each place, if I wanted some chocolaty, calorie-filled coffee, all I had to do was look for the mermaid. Do you know how comforting that is? Hmm, I don’t even know where to buy groceries here and I am all alone in a new city again…ah, but wait! Is that a Starbucks?? And they look and feel the same. A little slice of home. I also go to locally-owned coffee shops, but when I’m driving home from Orlando and it’s been raining all day, I like that I can see the big green circle and head there for some chai tea. So, my dear Starbucks, I am sorry that you have to close 600 stores. I hope tonight’s fireworks cheer you up. The end of the soapbox.
We are headed to the nation’s oldest city to watch the rockets’ red glare give proof through the night that the fireworks are there…over St. Augustine’s Castillo de San Marco along the Bay of Matanzas. The schedule:
6:00pm – Concert by the 13th Army Band
9:30pm – Fireworks!
Happy 4th of July!